SI sees through Wermers comments?

With the lashing UM has taken from ESPN regarding the Wermers departure, it appears SI "may" see through his comments. Not that it is a good story for UM, but at least it suggests his excuse is faulty.... with their use of "What's odd is....."

Here is the story on Truth and Rumors from Sports Illustrated:

Offensive lineman Kurt Wermers is transferring from Michigan to Ball State, citing the change in culture from former Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr to new coach Rich Rodriguez. What's odd is that the 6-foot-5, 270-pounder from Crown Point, Ind., never actually played for Carr. He redshirted in 2008, his only season in Ann Arbor. He will have three seasons of eligibility at Ball State after sitting out this year to satisfy NCAA transfer requirements. Here are some comments from Wermers from nwitimes.com, a news organization in Indiana: "I really didn't get along with the new coaches," Wermers said. "They were bringing in a lot of different kids that were not my kind of crowd. Coach Carr's staff was a whole different ballgame. It was like a family. But when Rodriguez came in it was a whole different feeling. It was more of a business. I figured I'd get out while I could."

Why would any of us care about what ESPN thinks about a 3rd string Michigan offensive lineman transferring to Ball State?

If you had a dog in the fight regarding Wermers playing this year, I could understand your angst about this situation. However, he's gone, and he wouldn't have played, maybe, ever.

Wermers made this a story. However, it's not worth paying attention to anymore. Whether it's national or local, it's irrelevant to Michigan's 2009 season or any moving forward. No matter what the douches on ESPN may try to tell the nation otherwise. It'll just make it more confounding to "major college football analysts" like Andre Ware, Wendi Nix and Brock "frosted lettuce" Huard when Michigan wins 8 games this year and 11 games in 2010.

If you think for one second that negative publicity, fueled by the #1 Sports outlet in the history of TV, cannot have a negative effect on a program and its recruiting then you, sir, should not seek employment at a P.R. firm. Ever. Never ever.

You are completely correct on a "fan of UM" point-of-view. But some guy in Topeka loves this story and our angst as much as we laugh at Kiffin...

Another case of Perception over Reality.

Will it matter in 2 weeks. No.
Does it matter now when everyone is talking about it because there is nothing else to talk about. Yes.

I agree. It's bothersome that those of us who are informed have to deal with this. We know that he was probably just upset that he couldn't cut it (not that I could) and lashed out, but perception is reality and it would be nice to save what face we can in the situation.

It's not a huge deal but the MSM makes it look that way. If we went 10-2 we could just shrug this off as a quitter and people would believe it, but until we put some quality product out on the field, perception of 3-9 is important.

ESPN picks up on as news. We don't "have to deal with this." That is why the blogosphere exists - to smash perception to shreds. People who know football, know that a third-string offensive lineman leaving is not a big deal. A special teamer transferred from Alabama this week. I haven't yet seen the ESPN commentary about how Saban drives kids in and out of his program. And I could care less.

The only thing that matters begins on September 5th. Everything else is BS propagated for ratings and to piss off fan bases. Don't take the bait.

And regarding recruiting - we have 16-17 recruits. All our verbal commits talk about the family atmosphere under Coach Rod. All those who have spoken about the lack of "family values" under Rich Rod were complaining about their perception of what "family values" were going to be, and how things changed with a new coach. That's nothing any Michigan fan should concern themselves with. I'm way more concerned about what Brandon Ifill and Cullen Christian think of the "family" atmosphere at Michigan than I am Kurt Wermers, especially after reading the "insider" view on this board about Wermers' work ethic. From what I"ve read, Ifill and Christian love our coaching staff.

the points the other posters are making about reinforcement of perception, and the nature of the PR biz and stories like Wermers', is that they could impact the things you are interested in--e.g., how a recruit or a recruit's coach/family may be potentially swayed by the self-perpetuating attention a story like this gets once it hits a major national media outlet. You know these developments aren't going unnoticed by other coaches locked in head-to-head recruiting battles with Michigan.

and realizes this guy never even played for Carr so how would he know anything about what the "feeling" within the team was when he was there? The media gives these ex-players with an axe to grind far too much credence when they start qouting them without asking some very basic questions.
Seriously, if you were interested in a girl and wanted to get an idea of what she was like would you go to the ex she just dumped for an informative, unbiased opinion?

When you transfer you have to sit out a year. Most players use this as their redshirt year so they end up with 4 more years of eligibility. Since he already redshirted, he will sit out 1 of his 4 remaining years next year and then have 3 more to play.